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Legionnaire
Background Legionnaire is the first book in the Galaxy’s Edge series written by Jason Anspach and Nick Cole. It was released on June 12, 2017 and published by Galaxy's Edge Press. Story The Galactic Republic has dispatched the super-destroyer Chiasm to Kublar, a backwater planet of the rim of the galaxy. The 131st Legion, Victory Company has been transported to the surface while the Chiasm remains in orbit. The narrator of the story is Sgt. Cohen Chhun, the NCO of Doomsday Squad, Victory Company. The Republic legionnaires are the elite of the Republic’s armed forces, but even so, Chhun presides over a wide variety of troops, including some barely trained recruits, like Rook, experienced troops like Twenties and seasoned veterans like Exo. Chhun is on the low end of the table of organization: his immediate CO is Lt. Ford (aka Wraith) and their immediate CO is Major Silas Devers, an officer known for his scheming politics and lack of battlefield experience. The company commander is Major “Pappy” Hilbert. Victory company is dispatched from forward operation base Camp Forge to the hills of Kublar to assist Senator K’iktor Greggorak keep the peace when members of rival tribes, assisted by Mid- Core Rebels threaten his control over Kublar. Devers insists the mission proceed to Moona village, a tribe that’s reportedly loyal to the senator. Victory company suffers such an attack early in the mission, and Chhun sees the Chiasm explode while still in orbit. Without its support ship, Victory company is vulnerable, and the Kublaren repeatedly attack. During one early attack, Hilbert is incapacitated, leaving Devers in charge, to the displeasure of many in the company such as Exo. Lack of supplies and an unclear chain of command fragments the unit and puts the company on the defensive. In order to preserve what little cohesion the units has left, Chhun keeps the news about the Chiasm to himself. When he does inform Devers of the loss, Devers insists he’s mistaken. With no choice but to continue the mission to Moona village, Pappy awards Chhun and Wraith field promotions to second lieutenant and captain respectively before he’s sedated for field surgery to save his life. Devers and Exo nearly come to blows over which officer is truly in command, Wraith or Devers. A number of legionnaires step in to save Devers’ life, including Chhun, over the angry shouts of many of the remaining troops. Devers agrees not bring Exo up on charges, and to follow Wraith’s orders as company commander in Pappy’s absence. The new officers re-organize their squads to compensate for losses, and set out. Arriving at Moona village, the company receives a garbled transmission from Outpost Zulu, a relay station in the mountains that reports that Victory company is apparently destroyed. Again, Devers denies the news and insists he has everything under control. In the meantime Chhun talks to Chieftan Kreggak and learns the Annek tribe and their MCR allies are responsible for the attacks and the unrest. Kreggak promises that if the company attacks Annek village they can destroy the tribe and its rebel allies as well as secure the Moona tribe’s loyalty. Meanwhile the ruins of Camp Forge are being recorded by PLE-1J (Pully), a journalist bot who has been following the story of the Mid-Core Rebels across the galaxy. Without Kublar’s communication network, Pully is unable to file his reports. Victory company arrives at Annek village, which immediately opens fire on the legionnaires. Chhun and Ford deploy their troops to counter-attack and wipe out all resistance. Among the few survivors are Andien Broxin, a republic scientist, who tells them that the Annek village a resource development site, not the seat of tribal elders that Kreggak told them it was. As legionnaires try to clear away debris to rescue survivors, Chhun, Wraith, and their troops wonder what is actually going on. As Victory company evacuates the area, they fight their ways through continued opposition. Victory company arrives back at Camp Forge to find that the base has been destroyed and the senior officers and the kublaren senator are dead, along with their staffs. Devers finally admits that the Chiasm is out of contact…possibly destroyed…and Exo assaults him in a rage. Devers is sorely wounded and Wraith steps in to prevent Exo from killing him. Pully meets up with Chhun and tells him everything he knows about the destruction of Camp Forge. Chhun and Wraith decide that sending a request for help via deep space transmission from Outpost Zulu is the best course of action. Andien can help to patch Pully into the system as well. The trip to the outpost doesn’t take long but requires a strenuous climb to the transmission tower, and then need to fight their ways inside to the station (where Rook is badly wounded). Nonetheless, the patch is made and the transmission sent. Another kublaren attack reduces the company’s strength even further but is successfully repelled by the company. As the fighting dies down Chhun fields a transmission from General Vantage Poll, with the Mid-Core rebels, insisting that the legionnaires surrender. As Chhun refuses, a larger, more heavily armed force opens fire, and the legionnaires are sorely pressed to defend themselves, including killing Chieftan Kreggak. Thing go from bad to worse when an Ohio-class space cruisers arrives over Kublar, dropping a squadron of MCR Starfighters which begins stafing the legionnaires. Just as it looks like the end of Victory company is in sight, a Republic super-destroyer, the Mercutio arrives and extracts the surviving legionnaires.